Leveling the Playing Field in Debt Collection Lawsuits

This past Wednesday I spent two hours being trained on how to assist pro se defendants who are being sued for allegedly not paying consumer debt. It was an interesting and enlightening session that gives an idea of the odds pro se defendants are up against in small claims and district courts.

The Volunteer Lawyers Project of the Boston Bar Association is doing great work in attempting to educate pro se defendants in consumer debt cases, and is attempting to soon be able to act as attorneys-for-a-day to these pro se defendants so that they need not have to go through it alone.

While uneven levels of representation exist in the judicial system, few levels of relative representation are as unequal as debt collectors vs pro se defendants. If a pro se defendant misses a hearing date, a default judgment is almost always entered for the debt collector, whereas if the attorney for the debt collector does not appear, the judge will get another attorney to appear for the debt collector and will allow the prosecution of the case to continue despite the appearing attorney's lack of information.

The Boston Globe Spotlight Series did a series of articles on the inequality rampant in Small Claims Court against defendants, particularly pro se defendants. Judges were complicit in the inequality, going much harder on pro se defendants than they ever did on debt collector attorneys. The Spotlight series highlighted that debt collectors got continuances when none should have been granted, that debt collectors lied on complaints and many other abuses. The SJC, starting in October 2009, required Small Claims Courts to, among other things, have Clerk-Magistrates review settlement arrangements and required debt collectors to provide some evidence of debt to obtain a judgment. These requirements are unremarkable and were already encompassed in the previous rules, but had to be specified because of the abuses of the debt collectors.

Despite what the SJC has enacted, the need for pro se assistance is still great and the playing field between pro se defendant and debt collectors is still unequal. Hopefully I am able to provide some assistance to those are in need. While many of the pro se defendants may owe the amounts being sued over, they still are entitled to have court procedures followed and to be treated with respect. The Volunteer Lawyers Project is starting to turn the tide against debt collectors having the run of District and Small Claims Courts.